The Association shall be called the British Hip Society (BHS).

The object of the Society is to provide a forum for the discussion of research, advances in clinical practice and the results of surgical procedures pertaining to the hip joint.

3.1 Ordinary Membership is open to Surgeons and Scientists who have a special interest in the hip joint as demonstrated by their research and publications in this field or by the presentation of a paper to the Society.

3.2 Honorary Membership may be offered to distinguished surgeons and Scientists who have a special interest in the hip joint. Honorary Members will not be expected to pay the annual membership fee.

3.3 Emeritus Membership may be requested by Ordinary Members after the age of 65 if the member is no longer in clinical practice. This status will be ratified by the Officers of the Society and presented to the Ordinary Membership at the Annual General Meeting for their approval.

3.4 Application for Ordinary Membership. Applications should be made on-line via the BHS website or in electronic format to the Honorary Secretary. The application should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae. The names and confirmation of support from of a proposer and seconder, both of whom are members of the British Hip Society, should be included with the application. The application will be scrutinised by the Honorary Secretary and membership will be granted only after consideration at a meeting of the Executive of the Society. Successful applicants are required to pay their annual subscription by direct debit.

3.5 Cessation of Membership will occur:

3.5.1 On receipt of a Member’s written resignation or

3.5.2 Failing to pay the annual subscription fee after a reminder has been sent or

3.5.3 Failure to attend the Annual Meeting for at least 3 years without a note of apology for nonattendance.

3.5.4 Only under exceptional circumstances will the Executive permit Membership to continue if these conditions are not met.

4.1  The Officers of the Society should be the President, President Elect, the Vice President, the Honorary Secretary, the Honorary Editorial Secretary, the Honorary Treasurer, the Web Master, the Member at Large and the Immediate Past President, who shall constitute the Executive Committee.

4.2  The President shall hold office for one year. The President shall chair all the meetings of the Society and the meetings of the Executive Committee.

4.3  The President Elect shall hold office for one year and succeed the President at the end of the Presidential term of office. 

4.4  The Vice President shall be elected for a term of one year and succeed the President Elect at the end of the Presidential term of office.

       4.4.1  The Vice President will chair the Education Committee.

4.5  The Honorary Secretary shall be elected for a period of three years and may be re-elected.

4.6  The Honorary Editorial Secretary shall be elected for three years and may be re-elected.

4.7  The Honorary Treasurer shall be elected for a period of three years and may be re-elected.

4.8  The Web Master shall be elected for three years and may be re-elected.

4.9  The Member at Large shall be elected for 2 years and normally be under the age of 45 at the time of his or her election.

       4.9.1  A Member at Large may not be reelected.

4.10  The Registry Representative shall be elected for three years and may be re-elected

       4.10.1  The Registry Representative will chair the Non-Arthroplasty Hip Registry User Group

4.11  The Research Representative shall be elected for three years and may be re-elected.

       4.11.1  The Research Representative will chair the Research Committee

4.12  The Past President shall remain as an Officer for one year.

       4.12.1  The Past President will normally represent the Society on the Beyond Compliance Supervisory Committee.

       4.12.2  The Past President will chair the Professional Affairs Committee

5.1  The Honorary Secretary will invite nominations for positions on the Executive from the Ordinary Members not less than 20 working days before the Annual General Meeting.

5.2  Nominees shall be proposed by an Ordinary Member and seconded by an Ordinary Member. The nominee must consent for his or her name to go forward.

5.3  Nominees for the post on the Executive should include, with their application, a short statement containing details of past experience and a vision of what they would like to achieve during their time on the Executive, if elected. This statement will be made available to members prior to the AGM.

5.4  A ballot will be held at the AGM if there is more than one nomination for a post.

5.5  If there are more than two ordinary members standing in an election to be an officer of the Society, then there will usually be two ballots. After the first ballot the two members with the greatest number of votes will contest a final ballot unless:

       5.5.1  The sum total of the votes cast for one contender is greater than the total votes cast for all the other contenders.

       5.5.2  There is a tie for second place in which case there will be a ballot for ‘second place’ by all the ordinary members present before the final ballot.

5.6  In the event there is only one nomination then the membership shall, in any case, be balloted at the AGM; 75% of the Members present will be required to accept the nomination otherwise a further invitation for nominations will be made to the Membership after the meeting. A postal vote (or secure internet vote) will proceed.

6.1  The Executive Committee has the power to co-opt other members for specific duties from time to time.

6.2  Such duties include being local host at the Annual General Meeting, a representative to work with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency or any other organisation as appropriate.

6.3  A representative of the NAHR User Group will be invited to contribute to the Executive as an ex- officio member.

7.1  Consists of a Chairperson (the Registry Representative of the BHS- Elect of the BHS), and co-opted members.

7.2  Membership of the current User Group can be found on the NAHR website.

8.1  The Society will normally meet once a year. The timing and venue of each meeting will be decided by the Executive Committee.

8.2  The programme will be decided by the Executive Committee.

8.3  The Honorary Secretary or the Honorary Editorial Secretary will write to all members requesting papers and submissions for the meetings in good time. They will request a brief abstract of the paper for deliberation by the Executive.

8.4  The length of each presentation will be determined by the Honorary Editorial Secretary.

8.5  Meetings of the Society shall be open to all members. Persons applying for membership will be encouraged to attend the meeting after their application has been discharged.

8.6  Members are welcome to bring guests. Members should notify the Executive through an e-mail to the Hon. Secretary of their request to invite a guest in advance of the meeting. The Executive, through the Hon. Secretary, may veto any request. The Hon. Secretary will keep a record of guests who attend the meeting. At the discretion of the Executive, fees will be charged to members and guests at each scientific meeting.

8.7  Representatives of the Healthcare Industry are not permitted to register or attend the Annual Meeting except unless they have been invited to participate in symposia by the Executive. There will be no Commercial exhibits at the AGM.

8.8  There shall be no recording of any part of the meetings of the British Hip Society without the express consent of the Executive.

9.1  An Annual Business Meeting will take place during the Annual General Meeting of the Society.

9.2  At the Annual General Meeting there will be an election of Officers as appropriate and an Annual Report from the Treasurer will be received.

9.3  The President, or in his absence the Vice-President, shall take the chair at all Business Meetings.

9.4  Voting.

       9.4.1  Every decision at the Annual Business Meeting of members shall require a majority of votes of the Ordinary Members present. In the case of equality in the number of votes cast the President may exercise a second or casting vote.

10.1  There shall be an Annual Subscription, decided at the Business Meeting payable by direct debit.

10.2  The Treasurer shall present a detailed financial statement including a balance sheet at each Annual General Meeting.

11.1  The British Hip Society is affiliated to the British Orthopaedic Association through the Board of Specialist Societies.

11.2  Members of the BHS who are not also members of the BOA and choose not to join will be required to pay an increased membership charge to be decided by the Executive each year.

12.1  Title

       12.1.1  “The Professional Affair Committee of the British Hip Society”

12.2  Formation

       12.2.1  Set up in 2018 after a number of requests for advice received by the BHS Executive committee from BHS members

       12.2.2  Three Members co-opted

       12.2.3  Initial terms for two, three and four years to be decided amongst the founding members) to ensure future staggering of replacement appointments to the committee

       12.2.4  The formation of the committee was ratified at the AGM in 2020

12.3  Committee Membership

       12.3.1  Five Members

              12.3.1.1  Three BHS Members – in good standing

              12.3.1.2  Hon. Secretary

              12.3.1.3  Past President

       12.3.2  Membership Team

              12.3.1.1  Hon. Secretary

              12.3.1.2  Past President

 12.4  Function

       12.4.1  Advise BHS members on professional matters

       12.4.2  Issues related to surgery of the hip e.g.

              12.4.2.1  Adoption of guidelines/ best practice

              12.4.2.2  Local commissioning problems

              12.4.2.3  Implant Choice

              12.4.2.4  Approaches from media

       12.4.3  Not to be involved in disciplinary matters

       12.4.4  Not to be involved in employment disputes

 12.5  Meetings

       12.5.1  Prompted by request for advice

       12.5.2  Teleconference set up by the BOA

       12.5.3  Minuted by Hon. Secretary

       12.5.4  Advice feedback to BHS member and BHS Executive

       12.5.5  Decision / advice noted

       12.5.6  Minutes uploaded on BHS website

13.1  Title

       13.1.1  “The Research Committee of the British Hip Society”

13.2  Formation

       13.2.1  Set up in 2019 after a motion proposed by Tim Board in 2018 that the BHS increases its engagement in collaborative research. This was discussed further at the BHS Executive Away Day in April 2019

       13.2.2  The formation of the committee was ratified at the AGM in 2020

       13.2.3  Tim Board (Member at Large) tasked with setting up and chairing the committee with support from Jonathan Howell (President Elect)

       13.2.4  Research Representative established as a post on the Executive to chair the Research Committee, ratified at the AGM in 2020

13.2.5  Five Members co-opted

13.2.6  Initial terms for two, three and four years to be decided amongst the founding members) to ensure future staggering of replacement appointments to the committee

13.3  Committee Membership

       13.3.1  Six Members

              13.3.1.1  Five BHS Members – in good standing

              13.3.1.2  Chairperson – The Research Representative     

       13.3.2  Five BHS Members and a Chairperson (apart from founding members as above) will serve a three-year term

13.3.3  Replacements will be nominated/ seconded at the AGM when required

 13.4  Function

       13.4.1  Advise BHS members on research related matters

       13.4.2  Drive forward research collaborations regarding hip surgery

       13.4.3  Promote engagement of members Issues with national trials

       13.4.4  Engage and support Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs) within hip surgery

       13.4.5  Advise the BHS Executive Committee on research related matters

       13.4.6  Supervise or otherwise oversee any BHS research fellowship

       13.4.7  Assess and advise on any submission for BHS membership surveys

       13.4.8  To liaise closely with the BOA research committee and other national research bodies to keep abreast

 13.5  Meetings

       13.5.1  Quarterly with extraordinary meetings as required

       13.5.2  Teleconference set up by the BOA

       13.5.3  Minuted by Committee Member

       13.5.4  Minutes discussed as Standing item on Agenda for BHS Executive Meetings

       13.5.5  Minutes uploaded on BHS website

14.1  Title

       14.1.1  “The Education Committee of the British Hip Society”

14.2  Formation

       14.2.1  The formation of the Education Committee was discussed by the BHS Executive Committee in 2019 and existing committee members were initially co-opted

       14.2.2  The formation of the committee was ratified at the AGM in 2020

       14.2.3  The initial task was to deliver a single day education session at the annual meeting of the BHS

       14.2.4  This session is intended for trainees preparing for the FRCS(T+O) examination

14.3  Committee Membership

       14.3.1  Five Members

              14.3.1.1  Vice President acts as Chair

              14.3.1.2  BHS Executive Member co-opted

              14.3.1.3  BHS Ordinary Members co-opted as required

              14.3.1.4  Three years with exception of founding members as per 13.2.4

              14.3.1.5  Replacements will be nominated/ seconded at the AGM when required

 14.4  Meetings

       14.4.1  Quarterly minimum via teleconference set up via BOA

       14.4.2  Minuted by committee member

       14.4.3  Minutes to be sent to BHS Executive and discussed as an agenda item on the regular Executive conference calls     

       14.4.4  Minutes uploaded on BHS website

15.1  No change in the rules of the Society will be made except at an Annual General Meeting and after at least 28 days notice has been given to the Ordinary Members and then approved by two thirds majority of the Ordinary Members present at the Annual General Meeting.

15.2  A quorum for the purpose of amendment of the rules shall be 30% of the Ordinary Membership. If such a quorum is not present at the Annual General Meeting a postal ballot of all Ordinary Members shall be held